War of Shadows
by Scottish Knight
Summary: A novelisation of FE1/11 where Akaneia is a realistic medieval world and battles are between full scale armies.
1. Night of Betrayal

**First of all I should clear up that I actually posted a version of this at the beginning of last year, but after a lot of delays, I eventually gave up after three chapters. I'll admit that I don't really like writing but I've always wanted to see this story fnished, so I've decided to try it again. This chapter is a re-edited version of the original chapter.**

**This story is essentially a novelization of FE1/11. I originally thought of this while playing Total War, when I wondered what Fire Emblem would look like with battles on a Total War Scale. It developed from there and I eventually added a few other details to flesh out the world of FE, especially portraying realistic medieval warfare. There will be some very minor OCs mainly for the body count and to prevent faceless minions. Also, characters have been redesigned somewhat to have realistic armour and stuff. Helmets are heroic now.**

**Note that the Akaneia portrayed here is based more on real medieval Europe and so is not in medieval stasis. Because of this, Awakening does not necessarily follow this.**

* * *

Since its founding over a century ago, the kingdom of Altea had enjoyed peace and prosperity, and before the events of the past few years, it showed no signs of stopping. For most people life continued peacefully although for a few, the absence of most of the knights and the news of war that was continually brought by travelling merchants, was a cause for concern. Yet most people doubted that what was happening in the wider world would ever reach Altea. Anyone who dared to stand against them would surely be defeated in no time, and life would continue as it always had.

As a mere vassal of the holy kingdom of Akaneia, Altea was hardly the largest or most powerful nation on the continent, yet its knights were one of the largest and most prestigious military forces in the known world. For many reasons, Altea was the envy of many other nations, yet its real treasure was in its legacy, having been founded by the great hero Anri.

From the years 493 to 498, the entire continent of Akaneia had been devastated in what became known as the War of Liberation, when under the last earth dragon Medeus, the manakete dragons of the Doluna Empire and their human slaves attempted to take over the entire continent, and to enslave and exterminate all of humanity. At that time, the holy kingdom was the only major power on the continent, hence why the kingdom and the continent shared the name: Akaneia. The holy kingdom, along with all the other people of the continent fought back, yet Doluna swept away all resistance and it was not long before the Akaneian capital fell and the royal family of Akaneia was almost wiped out. Many more died in battle, from sickness and famine, and under the tyranny of Doluna. Fortunately, mankind was never entirely defeated, and even after the fall of the holy kingdom, the people continued to rise up and fight against Doluna in any way they could. While it started off as what seemed like a lost cause, this changed when princess Artemis, the last surviving member of Akaneia's royal family presented Akaneia's national treasure: the Fire Emblem, to Duke Cartas. Wielding the Fire Emblem, Cartas rallied the people of Akaneia, and led them on a campaign to destroy the Doluna Empire. Despite some initial success, progress was slow and the war soon became a stalemate that dragged on for almost a year. This changed however, when the slave Iote of the Doluna occupied Macedon region, led his fellow slaves in revolt, by learning to tame the wyverns that were wild in the forests of Macedon. With the forces of Doluna fighting on two fronts, the forces of Cartas continued to retake territory that had been lost until after years of fighting, they laid siege to Doluna Keep, knowing that victory was finally within reach. It was at this moment however, that Medeus himself joined the battle, and turned the tide single handedly, decimating his enemies and almost killing Cartas himself. It was when all hope had been lost, that Anri, a young man from the remote town of Altea, appeared wielding the divine blade Falchion, and with it fought and slew Medeus, bringing the war to an end. It was after the war that Anri returned to his home town and founded the kingdom that stood to this day.

Everyone in Altea had heard this story and the proof was there for everyone to see. The divine blade Falchion, which had for a long time been kept in the Cathedral of Saint Anri, was now seen as a holy relic and attracted pilgrims from far and wide. According to legend, Falchion was forged many centuries before the war, by the divine dragon Naga from one of her own fangs. While this was the traditional story, many were sceptical about the sword's alleged divine origin, yet no one could deny that the material it was made from was something completely unknown. However, at this time Falchion was no longer in its chapel and for the first time since the defeat of Medeus, had been taken to war once more.

Five years ago, rumours had spread that Medeus had returned and was gathering an army, to rebuild the Doluna empire. While this was almost universally dismissed as pure nonsense, the reports of spies and military patrols soon made it clear that Medeus had indeed been resurrected, through the means of a dark ritual that was undoubtedly the work of Gharnef, a dark sorcerer who had gone rogue long ago, and stolen a forbidden artefact -known only to a handful of people - from the magical city state of Khadein. Since the last war however, the royal court of Akaneia had become corrupt and decadent, and the king, believing his kingdom to be unconquerable, refused to take action. A year later King Osmond of Macedon died mysteriously and when his son Michalis ascended to the throne, his first act was to sever all ties with Akaneia and instead, declare an alliance with Doluna. Grust was the next kingdom to fall as for unknown reasons, King Ludwik declared that Grust would join the Doluna alliance. For another two years, an uneasy peace remained, yet thoughout the continent, kingdoms prepared for the inevitable war. Finally at the turn of the century, a huge army of manaketes and many more fallen humans from Doluna invaded the holy kingdom. In the meantime Grustian forces started engaging the Altean knights in a number of skirmishes near the Altean border.

Now in the year 602, the Akaneian capital had been under siege for three months. King Cornelius of Altea wielding Falchion was leading an army along with his closest ally, King Jiol of Gra, against the Grustian forces at Fort Mennedy. From there they would break through into Akaneia and attempt to break the siege, or so they had hoped. Even if everything went according to plan, the king knew that the war would not end until Medeus was dead once again and as the heir of Anri, it was up to him to do it. Only then could he return to his kingdom, his wife Queen Liza who ruled in his absence, his daughter Princess Elice, and his son and heir Prince Marth.

* * *

Cole hurried along the dark and seemingly endless corridors of Castle Altea, wishing he had some idea of what was going on. He had been nearing the end of another dull night shift, guarding some deserted corner of the castle while trying not to fall asleep, when he received new orders from Princess Elice. What she or anyone else was doing up at this hour was a mystery to Cole, until he overheard some other passing guards saying something about news arriving from Fort Mennedy, yet even that left endless possibilities open and he now regretted not asking them when he had the chance. Whatever the case, he just hoped that he would find out soon, and that it was good news. In another few months, he would be sent out to the front where he might get some action instead of endless hours of patrols and guarding the castle from non-existent intruders, although he did admit that it was better to be posted here, rather than some backwater fort that was hardly worth guarding. Unfortunately, there were very few Altean soldiers here and the garrison mostly consisted of soldiers from Gra, and Cole wondered whether some of them were even soldiers. While he was not one to question the king's decisions, to him the soldiers from Gra didn't exactly look trustworthy, indeed some of them looked more like hired thugs than anything resembling professionally trained soldiers. All he could do was ignore his suspicions and continue his duties.

He eventually reached the outside of Prince Marth's room where he knocked on the door as loudly as he could several times. Soon he heard the prince asking him to enter and he stepped in.

"Your royal highness. Sorry to wake you but the princess wishes to see you," He continued, "She wants you to meet her in the throne room as soon as possible".

"I see." said Marth, although he didn't look like he expected to be summoned at this time. "Has something happened?" he quickly asked.

"I do not know for sure but I think it is to with our forces at Fort Mennedy," replied Cole He quickly added "Whatever it is, it must be urgent if you're being summoned at this time".

Marth nodded "Then I'll be there soon. Thank you".

"Sir." Cole acknowledged as he left.

Now that that was done he started on his way back to the barracks as his shift was finally over by now. He had already heard that some of the other guards knew more than him, so maybe some of the now off duty guards might be able to explain to him what was going on, and he would also finally be able to get some sleep. He didn't get very far before he found the last thing he expected within the castle: An Altean soldier lay dead at his feet, covered in blood which poured from what looked like a stab wound to the back of the neck, and also with some damage to his armour which looked like the result of a clumsy bludgeoning. Initially horrified at the sight, Cole stepped back, trying to think what could have happened and what he should do, before realising that whoever had done this was probably after the prince, who he had a duty to protect.

* * *

After getting dressed, Marth started on his way to the throne room, hoping that the news from the front line was good news but at the same time suspecting that something could have gone wrong. On the way out, he made sure to take his arming sword which he should have returned to the armoury earlier, as well as his dagger which he carried at all times, not knowing that he would be needing them very soon. As he left his room, he failed to notice the two soldiers who were ahead of him, hiding in the darkness and trying to stay as silent as possible. Their orders were to take the prince alive and it was proving much easier than they had expected. The time of day made it easy to hide, and now the prince was alone, heading straight towards them. Once he came past, they could easily take him by surprise and capture him, hopefully getting a reward for doing so, yet little did they know that it wasn't just the prince they had to deal with.

What happened next was the last thing Marth was expecting. As he got closer to the throne room, a soldier jumped out of the shadows and swung at him with the back of an axe. He appeared so quickly that Marth hardly had any time top react and just barely managed to step out of the way, and before either of them could do anything else, the attacker fell over with the end of a spear through his back, revealing the soldier who had informed him to head to the throne room.

"Look out" he shouted, pointing up as Marth quickly stepped aside and turned around, to see that another attacker had just missed him. Realising that he didn't have time to withdraw his spear, Cole quickly drew his sword and rammed into his opponent with his shield, sending him off balance. Before his opponent had time to recover, Cole used his shield to move his arm aside and then ran him through with his sword. Unfortunately, after this he let his guard down and another enemy, who had just appeared before he or Marth could notice, swung his axe directly into his neck, breaking through the weak armour and almost decapitating him.

While Marth had been trained in combat to some extent from a young age, he had never witnessed anything like the carnage that was before him. At this point he had instinctively drawn his sword and raised it into a high guard, knowing that for the first time ever, he had a proper fight on his opponent tried to keep his distance as Marth attempted a few feints. Seeing what he thought was an opening, the soldier swung his axe, hoping to catch Marth's sword, grab the blade with his free hand, and disarm him. Unfortunately for him, his timing was off and Marth managed to slice his wrist before dropping down and thrusting his sword through his chest.

Marth breathed heavily as he withdrew his sword and let his now dead enemy fall to the ground, trying to process what had just happened. He had trained in various forms of combat from an early age, often with some of the best knights in the country, but until now he had never been in an actual fight. Now he had come close to being captured and most likely killed, witnessed a real fight to the death and killed a man himself. While he knew that he had no choice, he could not shake off the feeling of guilt seeing the blood on his sword. He had always hoped the day something like that happened would never come. However, when Marth turned his head and saw the dead Altean soldier once again, he was reminded of his duty as prince. That soldier had died doing his duty to defend him and he could not let thoughts of guilt get in the way of his own duty. With that, he got up and continued on his way to the throne room, trying not to focus on what had just happened and as ready as he could be for anyone else who got in his way.

It was not long until he reached the corridor leading to the throne room, which was thankfully much better lit than the rest of the castle. He soon knew however, that he was not the only one there as he heard a shout from across the room:

"Over there. Get the prince."

Two more axe wielding thugs started to close in on Marth, to which Marth responded by raising his sword and getting into a fighting stance to which one of the thugs simply smirked in amusement, failing to notice the blood covering the sword. The other, quickly swung his axe repeatedly to force Marth back, but Marth knew how to recognise an obvious, clumsy feint and did not move, instead easily parrying each attack.

"Who are you?" he demanded, not expecting the answer he got. His enemy responded:

"We're soldiers of Gra," he answered while stepping back from the fight "and seeing as we now control this kingdom, it would be better for you to surrender". To Marth, this made no sense. What would allied soldiers, who were here to defend the kingdom claim to be in control. Was this a revolt by the garrison or worse?

"What? Why would I surrender to an ally?" asked Marth, feeling himself getting increasingly angry.

"So you still want to do this the hard way then," said one of the alleged Gra soldiers as both of them advanced. Marth, seeing that he was not getting any answers from these two, thrust his sword at the one he had been fighting, throwing a perfectly executed feint that caused the soldier to leave himself open, after which March sliced him through. Before he could withdraw his sword however, the other soldier tackled him from the side, threw him down onto the ground and used his foot to keep him down. As he attempted, to bring his axe down though, he had again proven himself less than observant. While Marth's sword was out of reach, he had failed to notice the dagger that Marth had been carrying on his belt and by the time he realised that Marth was still armed, the dagger had been driven through his leg. As he shouted in pain, Marth threw him off and after getting up, slashed his side and finally stabbed him in the temple.

After retrieving his sword, Marth headed towards the door to the throne room, once again trying to keep his mind off what he had just done. While he was shaken from the brutality of the fight, he was determined to find out what was going on especially after what the soldier had said. It simply did not make sense. Just as he reached the door, it was opened from the other side, revealing a Gra soldier who unlike the others looked more like a professional soldier although he was probably just a conscript, who wore some light armour and wielded a spear and shield.

"Looks like the reward is ours," he shouted to another soldier behind him, and came forward blocking the doorway and taking a defensive stance, sometimes thrusting his spear at Marth. Now knowing that the men he fought earlier were indeed working for Gra, Marth attempted to attack the soldier, successfully dodging his spear but hitting his shield each time. The soldier, who had the defensive advantage stayed where he was, expected Marth to tire eventually and become weak, but Marth had been holding back, attempting to lure his opponent into a false sense of security. Remaining stationary while attacking was a mistake Marth made in his early days of training, which he had learned to stop the hard way but now he was back to making the same mistake, meaning that any movement would be unexpected by his opponent, who would not otherwise come forward. Eventually, just as the soldier was about to thrust his spear again, Marth stepped to the left, enabling him to cut the end of his sword his sword across the soldier's face. The soldier fell to the ground, screaming in pain, before Marth swung his sword right across his neck, decapitating him.

As Marth stepped into the throne room, he discovered that the other soldier, had been busy fighting an Altean soldier at the back of the room and had just killed him. Expecting his comrade to easily deal with Marth, he was slightly aghast. Marth noticed him muttering something to himself before turning and running towards the throne, which he stood on top of, hoping to provoke Marth.

"Get off my father's throne" Marth shouted as he charged towards the soldier.

"It's not his now." said the soldier as he jumped down and got into a defensive stance, ready to repel Marth. "Can't you see that fighting is now pointless. Your army is defeated and your whole kingdom has been seized."

"I will not surrender under my own roof," said Marth as he brought his sword forward and drew his dagger with his left hand. The soldier repeatedly thrust at him with his spear, managing to achieve a few scratches, but failing to deliver a serious hit. Marth, using his two blades, repeatedly moved the soldiers spear away from him but could not get past the shield. Getting impatient, the soldier attempted to ram Marth with his shield, thinking that it would give him the opening he needed to deliver a proper blow, unaware that he had left himself open to do so. Marth, seeing an opportunity, brought his dagger up and struck the soldier's jaw with the pommel, and trying hard not be overcome by the sheer brutality of what he was doing, then delivered a killing blow tthrough the side of the neck.

Now that the enemy soldiers were dead, Marth now felt exhausted, both physically and mentally after killing five people. He and his weapons were now covered in blood and there were still two dead soldiers in the room to remind him of it. What was even worse was that he did not know why the soldiers had turned on him and he dreaded to find out what had happened.

"Marth," he heard a familiar voice say. As he was in thought, his sister Princess Elice approached from the side door, stopping briefly when she noticed the three dead men in the room. "Are you okay?".

Marth snapped back to reality, "Elice, what is going on?".

"I see we don't have much time," she continued, "Our army at Fort Mennedy was defeated. Gra betrayed us and struck the army in the rear."

At this point, Marth was speechless, having just hear the news that he had been dreading after what the last soldier had said.

"Is Father..." was all he had managed to say at this point.

"I do not know what happened to Father. All the scouts said was that most of the army was crushed, fighting on two sides. The few who escaped are scattered and are probably being hunted down."

Marth was struggling to take all this in, but trying to regain his composure he asked:

"What do we do now?" adding "What is the situation in Altea?".

"As you have clearly seen, the garrison have started pillaging from the inside. If I had known that, I would have sent someone to warn you," replied Elice, "As we speak, the combined armies of Gra and Grust are approaching from the North and Altea is defenceless and in complete chaos. For the sake of the kingdom, we have no choice but to escape".

Marth, now realising just how dire the situation was asked "How can we escape the castle?".

Elice responded "Go and meet Sir Jagen at the west gate. It should be lightly..."

Before she could finish, Marth interrupted "Aren't you coming?"

Elice hesitated slightly before saying "Mother and I were separated on the way here. I have to go and find her before I go, but I will join you once you are out," with emphasis on the last part.

Marth quickly said "Then I'll do the same," but Elice objected,

"No. Go and meet Sir Jagen and gather any other knights you can find. Once you clear a way out, I will catch up with you as soon as I can."

The way she said it made Marth doubtful of whether she was really being truthful, but all he could do was hope. With that Elice, hugged him as if she would not meet him again, which was what Marth somehow suspected but kept assuring himself that it was not the case. After that he turned and left, trying not to look back and trying to think only of what he had to do now.

"Goodbye Marth," whispered Elice as he left, "May you live long".

* * *

**Feedback is much appreciated. ****I don't have much time to update at the moment, but the next chapter will again, be a re-edit of the original. I will have to rewrite most of chapter 3.**


	2. Escape from the Castle

**Well, here's the re-edited version of the second chapter. I've just realised the original version of this was a mess, full of typos and inconsistencies. Hopefully, that's all been fixed. ****Unfortunately, there isn't much room for things like characterisation in this chapter, but at least it's a chance to show the knights realistically armoured.**

* * *

The path to the western gate from the throne room was hardly direct and for most people, it would be difficult to find the way there without getting lost. Marth however, having lived in the castle all his life, knew his way around even the most obscure and unused passages. This was probably not true for the dead Gra soldiers he had just passed, who had most likely been ambushed after getting lost. To them, this place would have made no sense, and the same would be true for most attackers. While the Alteans had won that particular struggle, evidence of further fighting in just about every room was everywhere: dead soldiers – mostly Altean, discarded weapons, and fresh bloodstains filled the castle. Fortunately, unlike earlier on the way to the throne room, Marth had not run into any Gra soldiers, although it would have been a relief to know that he wasn't the only one who was still alive. Worse still was how he couldn't stop worrying about whether his mother and Elice would escape safely and whether they would meet up with him if they did. It was very difficult to keep his mind off that, as well as all the bloodshed that surrounded him, yet he kept going until he neared the inner gate leading to the western courtyard. As he arrived, he had no time to catch his breath before he heard the distinct metallic clicking of armour getting closer. Once again, he drew his sword and dagger, preparing but not feeling ready for another attack. It was not long before a knight in a full suit of splinted armour, wielding a spear and shield, appeared round the corner and recognising the pattern on his shield and coat of plates, Marth was relieved to discover that not only was he Altean, but he was Abel, one of the knights with whom Marth had sometimes trained.

Lifting the hounskull visor of his bascinet, Abel said "Sir. Princess Elice bade us protect you, if we ever found you."

Before Marth could answer, another knight who Marth recognised as Frey appeared with his rounded visor already raised saying, "We were told to hold back the enemy as long as we could, but now that you're here, we need to ensure you escape."

"I'm just glad to see you're alive. Elice told me to meet Jagen at the gate, but I don't know what the plan is after that," Marth said before asking "Are there any soldiers out there?"

"We saw that three of them on this side," said Frey "They somehow didn't notice us sneaking past them, but we don't know how many there are outside. "

"Well we can't wait here while Jagen gets overrun. We'll have to fight our way out," said Abel. "We can take out those on this side easily enough."

Frey turned to Marth saying "Abel and I will go ahead and clear a path for you."

"No," Marth objected even though he wanted to avoid killing anyone else. "I will not stand by while others risk their lives for me."

"Sir it is..." said Frey before he was interrupted.

"I have already seen at least two soldiers die trying to protect me. I don't want to have anyone else die because of me," Marth continued.

"If we die, then it is only our duty," Frey answered.

"It is my duty as prince to fight alongside those who would fight for me." Marth argued back.

It was Abel who broke the argument saying to Frey: "He does have a point. We don't know how many there are. If all of us fight, we might have a better chance. Besides we're wasting time here. The sooner we get out the better."

Frey remained silent for a few seconds before saying "Very well."

"Seeing as Abel and I are properly equipped, let us engage the enemy first. Help us out however you can," he then said to Marth.

At this point, Abel had lowered his visor and raised his spear and seeing this, Frey did the same. As the three of them stepped out into the courtyard, they saw two of the Gra soldiers, one of them complaining loudly in an unintelligible accent while the other was casually leaning against the wall looking bored and occasionally spitting on the ground. Eventually, noticing Marth and the knights approaching, one of them cursed loudly and shouted to his comrades outside for help. As both soldiers prepared to fight, Abel charged with his spear forward at the soldier on the left of the gate while Frey did the same to the soldier on the right. The third soldier, who had been standing just outside the gate, rushed to join the fight when he realised who it was trying to escape.

"It's the prince," he shouted to the soldiers outside. "Get the hell up here and help us out!"

He then charged towards Marth as his comrades struggled against Abel and Frey. Frey, with his spear giving him superior reach, had very little difficulty against the mostly unarmoured, axe wielding soldier he was against. The soldier repeatedly tried and failed to get past Frey's spear, and it was not long before Frey managed to thrust his spear into his enemy, who quickly dropped dead. As this was going on, Abel was locked in what at first, seemed to be a stalemate with a soldier who was slightly better equipped than the one Frey was fighting. Using their spears, both kept the other at a distance and used their shields to deflect any thrusts. Yet it was soon clear that Abel was far more skilled as he threw a number of feints that the Gra soldier failed to recognise, which soon led to him leaving himself exposed and being impaled. As Abel and Frey defeated their enemies, both turned to help Marth, who seemed to be doing well on his own against the third soldier. Before they could intervene, help arrived for the Gra soldier as a crossbow bolt flew in from outside the gate, which would have mortally wounded Marth, had he not stepped aside just in time. Another bolt soon followed and it became clear that the crossbowmen, who were at the bottom of a flight of stairs outside the gate, did not know what they were shooting at when the arrow landed on the Gra soldiers shield. Before they could fire more bolts Marth flicked his sword upward, wounding the Gra soldier underneath his right shoulder and before he could react, Frey delivered a killing blow into his side.

"Let us deal with those crossbowmen," Abel said to Marth as the three of them lined up next to the wall, before any more bolts could hit them. Soon Abel and Frey charged out the gate, with their shields forward, at the archers below. Seeing them, the two crossbowmen fired once again, desperately trying to take the knights down before they were skewered. They did not succeed as their light crossbows, which they had probably made themselves, did nothing against the knights' armour and shields and seeing this, especially as the knights kept coming closer, they stopped firing and instead tried to flee. Both archers ran along the outside wall on their respective sides of the gate, hoping to find a better place to fire from or to flee from the battle. This proved to be a mistake as the knights each followed one of the archers in order to deal with them before could fire another shot. This however, meant that the knights had overlooked the Gra captain waiting further away on the bridge. As they forced the archers to flee, Marth started on his way down the stairs, and seeing his opportunity, the captain charged towards him, hoping to kill him quickly and escape with his head, like the other soldiers, underestimating his fighting skill. Still on the stairs, Marth got into a defensive stance, hoping to use the extra height to his advantage. The charging captain attempted to run him through with his spear but Marth dodged easily and then counter-attacked, forcing the captain onto the defensive. Quickly swiping and thrusting, he did not give the captain a chance to prevent him from closing the distance, and eventually almost landed a fatal hit which the captain managed to turn aside with his shield. Now too close to use his sword effectively, and unable to get it past the shield, Marth kicked his opponent in the groin before using the dagger in his left hand to try to slash him across the face. When his missed, hitting the nose guard, he instead plunged his dagger deep into the captain's eye, which resulted in him shouting in pain for a brief second before he was no longer able to, dropping dead with Marth's dagger still embedded in his brain. When this was done, and the thrill of the fight wore off, Marth felt almost sick. While he was gradually losing any sympathy he had for these soldiers, he would have done anything to avoid all the death he had seen this night, especially those he had killed himself, and the worst of all was the one he had just killed. The image of blood spurting out as he sunk his dagger through his eye and into his brain, was one he would never forget, and all his training could never have prepared him for this.

As Marth stood still, trying to shake off what had just happened, Abel and Frey returned from chasing the archers, who had both run into dead ends where they had met their demise. One of them had been skewered by Abel while the other, seeing no alternative, jumped into the moat. As both knights saw the body of the captain and the resulting pool of blood, they silently cursed themselves for leaving the prince undefended but were at the same time thankful that Marth had won the fight. It was little wonder that they failed to notice the captain anyway, due to the limited vision in their helmets. However, it was clear that Marth did not react well to having to kill, even to save his own life. Frey was not surprised, knowing that he would be no different if he had been forced to fight for his life at the age of 14, yet neither he nor Abel knew what to say.

"We need to keep moving," Frey said eventually, knowing that they could not afford to waste any time. Marth nodded silently before pulling his dagger out of the dead man's eye socket and following the other two.

"Where's Sir Jagen?" Marth eventually asked as he and Abel followed Frey across the bridge. As soon as he asked, they all heard the sound of a horse getting closer, hopefully answering Marth's question. Abel and Frey prepared their spears, in case it wasn't who they hoped it was coming towards them, but it was not long before they saw the horse in its distinct caparison, followed by the rider in his easily recognisable ornate armour, which showed his many years of service to the crown of Altea, but not to the same extent as the slightly anachronistic great helm which would not have looked out of place in the time of Anri. Jagen stopped just before he reached the bridge and waited for Marth and the other two knights as he lifted off his helm.

"Sir we must make haste. The enemy is closing in," he said, already turning his horse around.

"Shouldn't we wait for Elice?" objected Marth, who was wondering how she could possibly get out now.

"She ordered me to get you to safety and that's what's important now." said Jagen. "I don't know what she's doing but if she escapes, she knows where to find us."

"I see," Marth said after some hesitation, before asking, "What is the plan now?"

"First we need to get away from the castle. I'll explain the rest later," said Jagen, before moving off. Slowly so that Marth, Abel and Frey could keep up on foot. They made their way down the road, soon having to step over about five dead Gra soldiers and although Jagen didn't say a word, the others had no doubt that it was them who had delayed Jagen, and met their end because of it. They continued for a few more minutes until Jagen stopped and raised his hand, gesturing the others to stop.

"What is it?" asked Abel, but he soon realised what the others were listening to. Once again, they heard the sound of a horse coming closer.

* * *

Cain had completely lost track of how long he had been travelling. He was lucky to escape the massacre at Fort Mennedy, although he had to pay dearly to do so. Anyone who saw him in the state he was in would have thought he was on the verge of death, being covered in his own blood and with pieces of his armour broken, although with no time to lose, he could not get his wounds properly treated, only stopping once at a house for makeshift treatment which consisted of cauterising some of the wounds with a red hot poker, while cleaning the others with wine and crudely dressing them in spare pieces of cloth. In addition, he had lost his lance and shield, now only armed with an arming sword which he was not exactly in a state to use. He was also riding a somewhat common horse which he had to trade with a passing stranger for his prized Aurelian courser, which had become too exhausted to continue the journey. The stranger of course, needed no convincing to accept such a one sided deal and although Cain was sad to see his horse go, probably to be sold for more than the stranger made in a year, he would do anything to ensure he fulfilled his duty, knowing that if he could not carry out the king's last orders, he should have died with his fellow knights. He was not far from the castle, which he hoped had not yet fallen but knew that it was very unlikely. Yet reason for hope soon appeared, when he saw what was undoubtedly an Altean mounted knight on the road in the distance. As he got closer, he saw that there were three other people following the knight on foot and they had now stopped, as if they were waiting for him. As he came even closer he realised who they were: his superior Sir Jagen, his comrades Abel and Frey, and most importantly Prince Marth.

"Sir," Cain shouted as the others recognised him.

"Cain, what are you doing here?" asked Marth. "I thought you were with the main army," he continued but stopped when he saw the state Cain was in.

"Sir, I have come to deliver a message from the king" said Cain, trying and failing to hide the pain he was in.

"How did you even get so far in that state?" asked Jagen, having seen few knights who could have continued after being so badly wounded, but realising once again that they were short of time, he added,

"Never mind, we are still too close to the castle. We have to get off the road and follow a trail through the countryside. We'll be far enough when we reach the nearby lake but we can't stay for long. We need to get into the woods." He the asked: "Cain can you manage that?"

"Of course. I did not ride all the way from Fort Mennedy to get captured here. If we have to keep going, I understand," said Cain.

"Then let's go," said Jagen before moving off further down the road with the other four following, soon leaving the road and travelling onwards along the tracks through the fields until the castle was no longer visible.

* * *

While Marth and the knights were escaping the castle, princess Elice had taken command of the few knights and whoever else was left in the castle. While they had succeeded in holding back the enemy for a while, it was clear that time was running out and they would be overrun any minute. Now in the throne room, the situation was quiet relative to what was going on throughout the castle and the whole kingdom. The main entrance to the throne room had now been barricaded, and while it would most likely delay the enemy for only a few minutes, Elice knew that the longer they were kept back, the more time Marth had to escape. By now, all of the remaining soldiers were gone, either killed or having left to save themselves, although not one of them even thought of doing so until Elice ordered them to leave.

"Your Royal Highness, there is nothing more we can do. We must leave now," a familiar voice shouted from the side of the room. Malledus, the king's advisor, had just entered, having returned from giving some soldiers their last orders. He had been getting impatient for a while now, not understanding what Elice hoped to achieve by staying in the castle for so long, but he was not prepared for what she had to say.

"I am not going anywhere. How can I abandon the people of Altea after so many many have died to keep the kingdom safe?" she said, in a more serious tone than ever. Before Malledus could answer, she added, "Besides, if nothing else, I can can buy more time for everyone to escape".

"What is this nonsense?" asked Malledus. "Come on while we still have a chance."

"No Malledus," said Elice. She continued, "With Father and Mother unaccounted for, I have to remain with the people of Altea. If anything happens to me, it is of no consequence. If anything has happened to Father, then only Marth can wield Falchion and defeat Medeus. The fate of the world depends on him and whether he manages to escape the kingdom".

"Then is there anything I can do?" asked Malledus, in his mind arguing whether or not he could agree with Elice's decision to stay, but doubting that he could convince her otherwise.

"You know where to find Marth." said Elice. "If he is to succeed in what he must do, then he will need your guidance. Now go before it's too late."

" I will... do whatever I can," said Malledus before reluctantly turning to leave. Now Elice stood alone in the throne room, ready for whatever fate awaited her.

* * *

**Unfortunately, updates will be less frequent after this as I have a lot of work to do and aside from the beginning of chapter 3, everything will have to be written from scratch. Again, feedback is much appreciated.**


	3. Grave News

**Sorry about the massive delay. I wanted to update sooner but I had to put this ****on hold due the amount of work I've had recently. I'll hopefully be able to work on this more often now but at the same time I have exams coming up. Thank you for your patience. **

* * *

As the castle was finally abandoned, Marth and the knights continued their trek through the fields in the Altean countryside. They had been travelling for a while now, although all of them were unable to keep track of how long they had been travelling and were now looking forward to the chance to stop and rest, but Jagen was not prepared to take any chances, knowing that the enemy could be anywhere. The others remained silent as they went, trying to draw as little attention as possible, but also lost in their own thoughts. Like many others, they believed that the war would never reach Altea, but it hardly took any time for this to come crashing down. They had heard many times about the devastation caused by Doluna in the previous war, how the rule of Doluna seemed to so many like the end of the world. Was this what the future held for Altea? Would everything that they had known all their lives be reduced to ashes? While they all worried about their homes and their loved ones, Marth was especially worried, struggling with the unanswered question of whether his mother and Elice could possibly escape, as well as the news he had yet to hear about his father.

By now it was early in the morning, and the kingdom was just starting to wake up. Those who were not yet aware of what had happened would find bands of soldiers from Gra, who were meant to be protecting the kingdom, now looting and ransacking everything they could find before the reinforcements arrived to take over. While, Marth and his company had avoided any more enemy encounters since they left the castle, they had to be aware at all times as the enemy, having abandoned their posts, could have been anywhere. Only Jagen knew where they were actually going and all the others knew was that they were heading towards the forest beyond Lake Barr. In order to get there, they had to cross a number of rivers that branched off from the lake, which were used in the region as waterways and as a power source for the many mills along their banks. While there were risks in going along this road, it was preferable to delaying to go on a longer route, only to get captured by the incoming reinforcements. Eventually, after they had crossed the first bridge, Jagen stopped his horse, took off his helmet and raised his hand, gesturing for the others to stop.

"We can rest here for a short while," he said while climbing off his horse. "Cain, how are you doing?" he asked.

To most people, Cain looked like he should have died long before he even reached Altea, yet he kept going, determined to see his mission through.

"It'll take more than these scratches to bring me down," he said while struggling off his horse, somehow still able to stand, but quickly sitting down, leaning against a nearby tree. He then turned towards Marth saying, "Anyway, it's about time I fulfilled my orders. Sir, I have come here to deliver the king's... last words."

Marth paused, wondering if he had really heard what he thought he did, "You mean..." he started but was unable to finish, instead struggling with the pain he was in at the news he had suspected all along, yet continually denied to himself. The other knights also could not believe what they had heard and were at first unsure of how to react.

"You have my condolences sir," Cain continued, "I saw the king fight valiantly to the end, only to be struck from behind by that traitorous coward Jiol, who then took Falchion from his hand and left him to die," his voice filling with more hatred the more he spoke. With any hope he had left for his father now shattered, Marth broke down and was overcome by grief and despair. As Frey heard the news, he loudly cursed the name of Jiol. Even the normally strong Jagen now grieved for not only his king, but a true friend.

When Marth had calmed down slightly from the initial shock, Cain spoke again: "His last words were as follows: 'Tell my son that I leave the future of Altea and of all Akaneia in his hands. Where I have fallen, he must rise and continue the fight in my place. He was born into greatness and he must now be great'", repeating the king's exact words.

"Father... I will not fail you," Marth whispered to himself, although loud enough for the others to hear.

"Now that I have done my duty, I can no longer bear this indignity. I had to flee like a coward as the king lay dying, as my comrades, my own brothers were cut down and whoever was left broken and scattered. I am no longer worthy to live," said Cain.

Frey then spoke, "You did well Cain, and your duty is not over yet. We cannot save our comrades but we can still avenge the fallen."

"You're right," said Cain, looking up slightly. "I will not rest until that bastard Jiol is in the lowest circle of hell."

"You speak for all of us," said Marth "One day I will take back this kingdom and punish Gra for this betrayal."

The earlier fighting, the lack of food and sleep, the hours of walking, and now the news of the king's death had left the company completely exhausted, but even after all this there would be no time to recover. Abel had briefly wandered off to check the road ahead and he soon came back with more bad news.

"Sir," he said, struggling to catch his breath as he had just ran back. "There is some smoke coming up from that building up ahead, and I think I saw some armed men nearby."

"Dammit," said Jagen, as he looked at the road ahead. "We can't stop now. We need to get to the woods and clear the road ahead if the queen and the princess have any chance of escaping."

He quickly mounted his horse and put his helmet back on while the other knights lowered their visors and picked up their weapons. As Cain got back on his horse, his anger at what he had just heard driving him forward, he followed Jagen ahead, forgetting about his injuries, while Marth, Frey and Abel followed behind them on foot, as ready as they could be under the circumstances for yet another fight.

* * *

To many soldiers of Gra stationed in Altea, it would have appeared that they had got the short end of the stick, being there only for the sake of appearance, and even now despite being able to plunder as they pleased, really being made to stay out of the way of their superiors. This was done with good reason, as the most competent troops that Gra could call up had been sent to Fort Mennedy with the main army. Any competent soldiers who were left in Altea were now busy attempting to disarm any resistance from the remaining Altean soldiers, and rounding up prisoners in preparation for the arrival of the main army in a few days. For the vast majority of Gra soldiers in Altea however, they were simply left to their own devices, being forced to terrorise the population as many of them had already been doing on a smaller scale in Gra before they were sent here to become, from the point of view of the Gra commanders, someone else's problem.

This was certainly true for the soldiers who had been stationed at Lake Barr, who during the night had been busy raping and slaughtering in isolated homes and mills, stealing anything of value which in the end was not much. The nearby blade mill had nothing but farming tools although one of the soldiers did find a newly sharpened knife that was big enough to be a sword, which he now brandished with pride. Half the places they went did not survive afterwards as the group included two magical tome-wielding pyromaniacs who could not resist a chance to burn people to death but would often end up burning everything in sight. Having been up all night, they were now exhausted and five of them were now resting at the south bridge, while the others had spread out to keep an eye on the surrounding area. It was not long ago that a scout had ordered them to be on the lookout for Prince Marth who had somehow escaped the castle. While the reward for his capture sounded very tempting, the three who were at the bridge were quick to realise that even in the unlikely event that the prince came this way, they had no way of actually recognising him.

As they were too tired to pay attention and preoccupied with stolen food and ale, it took them a while to spot Jagen and the others slowly coming towards them in the distance. As they came closer, it became clear to the knights who the men on the bridge were, given the symbol that they all wore, and what they had been up to. Their guilt was confirmed when they finally noticed Jagen approaching slowly and picked up their weapons, getting ready to attack. Seeing this, Jagen charged forward, knowing that his horse alone would be enough to scatter them and put them in further disarray. The others followed, and there was little time before Jagen smashed through them, managing to skewer one of the soldiers and knocking down one more. While this happened, the archer of the group fired an arrow which completely missed its target, and before he could fire another, he was decapitated by Cain, who had fallen slightly behind on his slow farm horse. Abel and Frey, quickly rushed in and stabbed the two men that Jagen had knocked down with their spears. Seeing his comrades reduced to corpses by the superior skill and arms of the Altean knights, the fifth soldier attempted to run but was forced to bring down his axe only to be caught by Marth's sword. Not wasting this opening, Marth stepped in and struck his opponent in the face with the pommel, and before either of them could continue, Frey stabbed the Gra soldier's throat with his spear, causing him to collapse and die, almost drowning in his own blood.

"More over there," shouted Cain, pointing to two more soldiers who had heard their comrades calling for backup and ran back only to see them slaughtered. Now they had the Altean knights coming towards them, and it was certainly an intimidating sight. In their armour they looked barely human, more like angels of death coming to punish them for their crimes. By now there was no escape and it did not take long for Jagen to run one of them down while Frey engaged the other in a brief fight which he easily won using the superior reach of his spear against his opponent' short axe.

Just as Marth thought the fight was won, Abel shouted "Look out," as another soldier fired his crossbow in Marth's direction. Cain, who was nearby put himself between Marth and the soldier just in time and the bolt hit Cain's horse causing him to fall off, but despite the state he was in, he still managed to turn in mid air and land on his side into the mud before rolling onto his front and standing up again, completely unharmed. To Marth, Abel and even the Gra soldier, it looked very impressive, but it what had happened also made Marth realised how vulnerable he was, as he had come close to being hit by a crossbow bolt and he had spent all this time fighting without even a helmet. Abel charged at the Gra soldier before he could have a chance to draw his crossbow again but he was beaten there by Jagen. While the soldier dropped his crossbow and lever and instead drew his stolen knife, it ultimately proved futile as he was trampled by the charging destrier. When this was done, Jagen looked ahead over the next bridge where there were more burned out buildings, some with charred corpses outside before he realised what had happened. As the others caught up with him, Cain having borrowed Freys' spear to use for support, Jagen took off his helmet and spoke one word: "mages."

As the others, seeing the devastation around them, saw what he meant, Jagen continued, "I think there's only one, maybe two or three. Let me go ahead and scout the area. Follow me and keep an eye on everything."

As the others raised their visors, knowing that they were no use against mages and would only impair their vision, while Jagen, lacking a visor, passed his helmet to Abel saying, "Leave it here. I'll pick it up when this is done." Abel nodded and left the great helm on the bridge. Before anyone could say a word, Jagen rode off while the others followed, barely able to keep up, looking in all directions for the mages who could try to ambush them from anywhere. As they came further down the road, Jagen spotted one of the mages further down and rushed towards him before he could get the chance to launch another fireball. As he did so, another mage, who had been hiding at the side of the road, came out of his hiding spot and attempted to burn Marth and the other knights, who were in a close formation and made an easy target. As they scattered, Abel threw his dagger at the mage, which ended up simply hitting him in the head by the grip rather than the blade, as the dagger was meant for close combat rather than throwing. This however, did delay the mage for about a second, which was enough time for Marth to run forward and swing out with his sword, cutting off the mage's outstretched hand. The mage screamed out in pain as blood poured from where his hand used to be, before he was finished off by Marth, who ran him through with his sword.

While this was happening, Jagen had charged at the other mage as fast as possible, managing to dodge one fireball that was thrown at him, and finally as the mage was about to throw another, Jagen knew he could not stop it and instead thrust his lance into the tome, before retreating. With his destroyed tome, the mage could no longer control the fire that he had summoned and was now burning alive, his robes only helping the fire to spread faster. Jagen had been a knight for a long time and had seen some horrific deaths but it was not often he saw someone burning alive, making a futile effort to run as if that would get them away from the flames. He was just glad that Marth was not there to see this on top of everything else that he had been through. The mage soon collapsed, and was reduced to a charred corpse just like he and his comrade had sadistically done to their earlier victims.

Scanning the area, around, Jagen could not see anyone else in the surrounding area, although he did see the body of the mage who had attempted to kill the others. After rushing back to them, he was relieved to find that they were all unharmed, aside from Marth being covered in a little more fresh blood, not that any of them looked much better.

"It should be safe now," said Jagen. "Take any provisions they have on them. It'll take about three days to get to our destination, so we'll have to pick up anything we can get on the way. "

"Right," said Abel, handing Jagen back his helmet.

"Get me one of their shields," said Cain to Abel and Frey before they went to the previous bridge to pick up any food or supplies that could be useful through their journey. To both of them, it felt very strange to be looting bodies, even if they themselves were starving, but given the circumstances it was all part of their duty. It was made even stranger that what they were looting had already been previously looted, although they supposed the previous owners of these stolen goods wouldn't mind now. After picking up some fruit, dark rye bread, a few ale flasks and a shield. It was then that Abel spoke, "Perhaps we should bring Marth back a shield and a helmet," realising that they had to do something about the fact that the one they were supposed to be protecting was the least protected.

"Why didn't we think of that earlier?" wondered Frey aloud. Taking this as approval, Abel picked up another shield and removed a kettle hat from one of the dead soldiers. Leaving behind food that was covered in blood, they went back to the other bridge where Frey handed a shield over to Cain while Abel gave Marth the other shield and the helmet. "Let's hope you don't need them, but we'd better not take any chances.

"Thanks," said Marth weakly, feeling relieved after what had happened earlier with the crossbow bolt, although he could barely keep his mind on anything that was currently going on. The fall of Altea, the loss of his father, Gra's betrayal and the surrounding devastation were at the forefront of his mind the whole time. Nevertheless, he put on the helmet, knowing that although it was a kettle hat of a common soldier, rather than his bascinet, it would do for now. The shield was also a round shield, which was different to what he was used to, but again, it was certainly better than nothing.

"Let's keep going and we can wait at the meeting point," said Jagen before turning off to lead the company further. As they kept going, Marth remembered that after all he had lost today, he still had one ray of hope left: that Elice and his mother would escape and meet up with them. After a few minutes of walking, when they had stopped in front of a barely visible trail into the woods, the sound of a horse coming in the company's direction from behind them was enough for him to think that his hopes had not been in vain, although the fact that it was only one horse was concerning. The knights remained cautious, knowing that it could easily be a Gra scout. In the end however, as the rider crossed the bridge, it turned out to be Malledus, riding a palfrey from the castle, obviously in a hurry to catch them.

"Your Royal Highness, I..." he spoke after he stopped, before he was interrupted by Marth.

"Where are my mother and Elice?" he asked, knowing Malledus appearing without them could not be good news, but still desperate to hold onto his only ray hope. solemn look on Malledus' face however, only confirmed what Marth dreaded.

"Princess Elice has chosen to stay at the castle to buy time for your escape." he said.

"Then we have to go back," said Marth without any hesitation. The knights however did not share Marth's determination, knowing that the castle was lost and that going back would only mean the death of Altea's last hope.

"Marth," snapped Malledus. "Calm down. I know how hard this must be for you but please reconsider. Elice sacrificed herself, so that you could escape. She knows that if the worst has happened to your father, then you alone are capable of wielding Falchion and defeating Medeus."

"I'm afraid the king is dead," said Jagen to Malledus. "Cain here was sent from Fort Mennedy to give this grave news," he finished.

"Heaven have mercy on us," muttered Malledus as he heard this.

As he heard what Malledus had said to him, Marth was now finally understood the meaning of his father's last words. With his father now dead, only he alone could save Altea and all of Akaneia. Elice knew this and she lied to him because she knew that he would not understand if she had simply told him what she was doing. The peaceful life that he had led until now was over and now it was time for him to become the man who lived up to his father and to the legacy of Anri.

"I understand," he finally said after a long pause. "Both my father and Elice were counting on me to be the future of the kingdom. I will not fail them," he continued before asking Malledus, "Do you know what happened to my mother?"

Malledus answered reluctantly, "We never did find out where she was... While there might still be hope, it is... very unlikely that she wasn't captured if she did not come this way."

"I see," Marth answered, more calmly than anyone who was there expected.

"We must keep going then," said Jagen, dismounting from his horse. "We'll have to set our horse free. We'll be on foot from here," he said to Malledus, who seeing the almost non-existent trail ahead, could see why. Malledus dismounted and both of them took the reins and saddles and in Jagen's case the caparison, off their horses, throwing them in a ditch, and turned their horses away.

"We can have some food and rest soon once we get to the planned meeting point. I'll explain where we're going once we get there," said Jagen to the entire company, who almost all breathed sighs of relief. With nothing left to be said, they all followed Jagen into the woods and to whatever they had to face next.

* * *

**Once again, reviews and feedback are much appreciated. I'm not sure when the next update will be, but I'll try to get done as soon as I have the time. The next chapter will be a milestone as it will not only be the end of the in-game prologue, but it's where I will begin to use larger forces than what you see in the game. Thanks for reading.**


	4. To Exile

**I apologise for the very long hiatus. A combination of IRL interruptions and the number of logical flaws in this chapter in the game, made writing this difficult. Thanks for your patience.**

* * *

The three day journey through seemingly endless woodland had felt like an eternity. Being so far from civilisation, there were no Gra patrols anywhere nearby, but instead, the company had to fight against the difficult terrain and the miserable weather. The three days were spent marching mostly in silence, as there was very little anyone could say in the circumstances, simply following Jagen's lead, as he and Malledus were among the few people who knew of this path. For food, Jagen and Malledus, brought barely enough bread, cured meat and fruit to last the journey. There was some very basic shelter on the way with stored water and fresh cloaks, which was a relief at the end of a long day, especially during the second night where it rained endlessly and left the ground so muddy it was just barely possible to walk on without falling over. By now, the entire company looked completely dishevelled, being soaked, unshaven and covered in dirt, mud and dry blood, but they were not entirely unused to this. It was simply part of being a knight of Altea, whether in an actual war or a simple training exercise. Even Marth had some experience of living rough, as his father wanted to be sure he knew what it meant to be a descendant of Anri, and to be sure that his line and by extension his kingdom, would not become decadent like the royal house of Akaneia. Malledus had been along this path before, and despite his age, he also knew just what had to be done to escape Altea if there was a need to do so, and was perfectly willing to do whatever it took. Despite this, the journey was still a very unpleasant experience, and the entire company was relieved that they were now close to their destination.

It was soon after they had entered the forest that Malledus had explained where they were going. At the beginning of the war, King Cornelius had recognised the need for a plan in case the kingdom fell. The path that they were travelling on was set up as a result of this, and led to a small, obscure fishing village called Atterton on the Northwest coast, where they could could escape by sea on the king's ships to the island kingdom of Talys, a close ally of Altea. Atterton was guarded by a small militia led by a knight named Draug, who was one of the few people who knew of the escape plan in addition the Jagen, Malledus and members of the royal family, and since the betrayal had been busy keeping Gra soldiers away from the village and ensuring that the ships were ready for when the royal family and any soldiers they managed to bring escaped. Before that however, the company had one more obstacle to face.

"Come on sir, we're almost there," said Malledus quietly but Marth did not answer, having his eyes cast downwards, seemingly lost in his own thoughts and oblivious to the world around him.

"Sir, get a hold of yourself. I know you've been through a lot but the longer we take, the more likely our only escape route will be cut off," continued Malledus, this time louder, and making sure that Marth was listening.

"Sorry about that," said Marth. He had indeed been busy going through all that had happened recently in his mind. He tried to stay strong for now, so that he could live to do the task that his father had left him but it was hard to stay focused after all he had lost. What had hit him worst was Elice's sacrifice, and while he knew that it was for the greater good, he couldn't shake off the feeling that it could have been avoided.

"What were you going to say?" he asked, now looking up at Malledus.

Malledus answered, "Soon we will be back on the road for a short time. After that we'll still have to get through a small abandoned fort."

"Won't that be guarded?" asked Marth.

"I hope not but if so there probably won't be many. The fort is really just a checkpoint built a long time ago and it hasn't been used for years. There's nothing there now so the enemy shouldn't have much of a reason to stay there. We should still be careful though. There's no knowing what they're up to," answered Malledus.

Marth didn't speak but nodded, seemingly satisfied with this answer, before quickening his pace slightly.

Meanwhile, Cain had his own concerns about where they were headed. As he walked alongside Abel and Frey he asked, "How do we know we can trust King Mostyn? After what happened with Gra, how do we know that he won't sell us out as well?"

It was Jagen, who had overheard this from up ahead who answered.

"As bad as Gra's betrayal is, we must remember that the alliance between Altea and Gra was only due to historical ties that must have weakened over time. We should have suspected something was wrong in Gra when King Jiol banished his own daughter."

He paused quickly before continuing, "King Mostyn on the other hand was a good friend of our late king, who was an important ally in the war to unify Talys. I fought alongside them and I don't think he could change that much even after all this time."

"Can you be sure of that though?" asked Cain. "With all due respect, is your opinion based on a war that finished twenty years ago all we have to go on?"

Jagen did not hesitate to answer this, "Well if you're going to suspect everyone of treachery, then you should at least know that even if King Mostyn wanted to betray us, doing so would certainly lose him the loyalty of many of the Talysian clan chiefs. It would destroy the kingdom and return the island to the days of endless clan wars."

"I suppose that's true," said Cain as he quietly considered this. Even those who were mostly ignorant of the world outside Altea had heard of the Talysian clans and their endless wars with each-other. Through his leadership against a common enemy, King Mostyn had managed to earn the loyalty of most of them and form the more or less unified kingdom of Talys, but the fighting spirit and rivalries of the clans did not waver, causing many of the clansmen to fight in the current war as mercenaries. Despite this, Talys itself had mostly remained relatively peaceful and it would hopefully stay that way if Marth was to flee there.

Whatever the case, there was no time to think it through properly as the forest was now thinning, and through gaps in the trees, the company could now clearly see the road that they were heading towards. What they did not know however, was that they had failed to remain completely unseen. High above them, two pegasus knights from Gra had spotted them moving through a gap in the trees and while one of them continued on her way to report to the local garrison commander, the other turned back towards the approaching army.

* * *

By now the occupation of Altea was becoming slightly more organised and garrison commanders had by now started to control their troops and got them to actually secure control of the country as well as crush any resistance and take as many prisoners as possible. The commander of the local garrison, a knight named Ralf, was especially busy dealing with a large number of Altean military prisoners that were captured in various places and brought to this fort. While the fort was not very useful as a defensive structure, the cellar did make a good makeshift prison.

As much as Ralf wanted to secure more ground, everyone that was under his command now was needed to guard this fort, especially if more prisoners were to be brought in. It was hardly the most exiting job to be given, especially after all that had happened earlier. Three days ago, the prince had been spotted along with a group of Altean knights, and they left a trail of bodies behind them. Whoever had seen them had unfortunately lost track of them, but by now, a description of the group had been given to all the soldiers of Gra, and they had been commanded to be on the lookout for the prince at all times. While the reward for the prince's capture or death certainly sounded tempting, everyone knew that by now, he could be anywhere in Altea. What was more important was that King Jiol himself would be passing through this way to inspect the occupation of Altea. A while ago, Ralf had sent the two pegasus knights who patrolled the skies in the area, to find out how far away the king was, and to scout further afield. That wasn't very long ago and now he could see that one of them had already returned.

"Report," he said as the scout landed in front of him.

"As you can probably tell, the king himself is nearby and will be here well within the hour," said the scout after she dismounted her pegasus. "However, I have even more important news. The Altean prince is on his way here and is just coming out of the woods. My colleague has gone to inform the king."

"What? Are you sure?" said Ralf in disbelief. If this was true, then against all expectations, he could be richly rewarded by pure luck.

"Yes," said the scout. "Even from the distance, my colleague and I could see that they matched the description perfectly."

Ralf briefly considered this before he spoke, "They must be heading for the ships up ahead. If we weren't spread so thin we could have burned them by now but we can't risk it without reinforcements. Those villagers are tougher than they look." After another brief moment of thought, he continued, "Never mind, we can still trap him with the rest of the prisoners." He then turned back to the scout and said, "Continue your patrol. Keep us informed while we deal with the prince on the ground."

"Yes sir," said the scout as she mounted her pegasus and took off, hearing the commander barking orders at the surrounding soldiers.

* * *

Over the last two days, the crowd of prisoners in the cellar had been gradually growing. By now, they could possibly overrun their captors, despite their lack of weapons, yet a few had already died trying. By now, some of the prisoners had completely lost track of time, as there was very little light coming in to their makeshift prison, and the prisoners who had been there longer had grown weak due to the meager amounts of food and water they were given, as well as their limited ability to move. The stench was also unbearable, with so many people being packed together in the damp cellar, full of filth and rats both dead and alive. To say that they were being treated like animals was putting it very mildly.

When the prisoners heard the trapdoor open, they braced themselves for another load of prisoners about to be added to the already overcrowded prison, but instead, what came in was a group of three thugs from Gra, using their spears to force the prisoners back, ensuring none of them would attempt to escape again. The prisoners moved back and remained silent, knowing it was best not to provoke them, after what had happened previously.

"You there, get up" one of the thugs shouted while pointing at one of the prisoners, an archer named Gordin who had been brought here a few hours ago. Gordin did as he was told, knowing that there was no point in disobeying, as they were all expendable. He was soon forced up by one of the thugs grabbing him by the collar of his tunic at knife point, and was almost thrown onto the ladder, but not before another one of the thugs struck him across the stomach with his spear. After that he was forced up the ladder, towards another thug who was waiting at the top, and when the others joined them, they kept their weapons pointed towards him as one of them closed the trapdoor and secured it with a heavy weight. While the commander had ordered the soldiers to ensure the prisoners were secure and to prepare the fort to trap the prince, this group had other ideas. Now that they were in the main section of the fort, Gordin was quickly gagged before he could make a sound. When they were done, he seized his chance and struck one of the soldiers who was in his way before trying to run away. His efforts were futile however, as the soldier he struck hardly even flinched and effortlessly grabbed and almost throttled him.

"Try anything else, and one of your friends can take your place," said the soldier while pointing a knife at him threateningly. Seeing the pointlessness of his attempts, Gordin stopped struggling and simply hoped that he would survive whatever these ruffians had planned for him. Strangely, they put a knight's surcoat on him and then handed him a spear, although two of them held on to him tightly, careful not to let him move to use the spear against them. They then wasted no time in tying his hands to the spear. After this, they placed a helmet on his head; a bascinet with a visor that covered up the fact that he was gagged, and was a type common in Gra.

"So much for this being the kingdom of the great Anri," said one of thugs in a vaguely intelligible accent. Gordin said nothing, knowing there was no point.

"Just so you know, the prince is on his way here. He's already killed enough of us, now he can finally kill one of his own subjects" said another of the thugs, before Gordin was thrown down onto the stone floor. The three thugs quickly made their way out through the northern exit but one of them turned back before leaving.

"Don't worry, you'll live if you kill the prince before he kills you, and I'm sure our king will reward you once he gets here," he said. After this, Gordin was left alone in the empty fort, waiting for almost certain death. He would not kill the prince, and even if he would do such a thing, his hands were tied to the spear in such a way that he held it too awkwardly for it to be of much use. All he could do now was pray for mercy or for a miracle.

* * *

Fortunately for Marth and his company, the short journey along the road was uneventful, which in some ways wasn't surprising considering this was not exactly the most populated region of Altea. Hardly anyone would be using this road in normal circumstances, let alone the recent takeover. It was only as they approached the fort that they saw three figures moving towards the fort from the other direction, and while there was a chance they were simply commoners going about their daily business, there was also a good chance that they were soldiers of Gra. As the distance between the two groups closed, both became more cautious and it soon became clear to Marth and his knights, that they were heading towards a group of soldiers from Gra, as it became clear to them that they were approaching Altean knights. One of the Gra soldiers was an archer who took advantage of the distance while he still had it. As they other two went ahead with their pollaxes forward, he strung his bow and started firing a few shots, some of them hitting the mark, but failing to get through the knights' armour and shields. Some were dangerously close however, one of them hitting Jagen just below the visor slit. The knights had formed a circle around Marth and Malledus, who were vulnerable with little to no armour and now the two pollaxe wielding soldiers had engaged them to prevent them advancing further. Being outnumbered however, it was not an easy fight as any opening they found would leave themselves open if they exploited it, despite their lack of shields giving their weapons greater range than the knights' spears. It hardly took any time for them to become careless as one of them used his pollaxe to hook Cain's spear and throw it aside only to get stabbed by Jagen, while at the same time the other soldier managed to use the back of his pollaxe to hook Abel's foot and trip him over but before he could continue his attack or withdraw, he had been stabbed by Frey. The knights wasted no time in pursuing the archer who was now retreating into the fort, being completely undefended and running out of arrows.

He was relieved to find what he thought was a knight of Gra in the fort, although the absence of anyone else in the fort did seem suspicious. At first he thought it was just the relative darkness that prevented him from seeing anyone else in the fort but it soon became clear to him that only this knight was guarding the fort.

"We're under attack," he shouted, "Altean knights are here", but the knight did not answer and simply readied his spear instead, as the archer failed to notice due to the lack of light, the ropes tying the knight's hands to the spear. Gordin was relieved to see that his forced disguise had backfired, and that this Gra archer thought he was an ally, but with the knights and possibly the prince heading this way, he still wouldn't last long unless he proved which side he was on by killing the archer. While it initially seemed like a daunting situation to be in, killing an enemy while disguised as an ally, his mind was made up when the archer drew his bow, ready to shoot the first person who came through the door. Realising he had no choice, he awkwardly ran his spear in between the bow and the string from an angle, twisted it aside and thrust his spear into the archer.

It was then that Marth and his company entered, looking confused about what just happened. Gordin raised his spear and pointed it directly upwards as if he was surrendering.

"Who are you?" asked Jagen after taking off his helmet, but he got no answer; instead Gordin tapped the side of his helmet with his spear. It was then that it became clear to Marth that something was wrong as the so-called knight's hands were tied, meaning that he couldn't remove his helmet Not only that, but unlike a typical knight, he only wore padded armour underneath his surcoat. Seeing this, Marth stepped forward and took off the helmet, revealing that Gordin had been gagged.

"Let me get that for you," said Marth as he used his dagger to cut the gag loose, thinking that whoever this was looked strangely familiar.

"Thank you sir," said Gordin, revealing that he somehow recognised the prince.

Knowing that he would be hard to recognise, Marth asked "Have I seen you before?"

"I doubt you would remember," answered Gordin. "My name is Gordin. I was just one of many archers in the castle garrison before I was transferred to the local garrison. Unfortunately, we were all rounded up and kept prisoner in this fort. It was only a short while ago that they brought me up and left me in this state" he said as Abel cut the ropes on his hands.

"They knew you were coming here," said Gordin. "They've closed the northern exit and they wanted to delay you here so you would have nowhere to escape."

"Turning back is not an option," said Jagen. "We have to find a way forward and keep moving. If there many Gra soldiers out there, we'll just have to fight our way through them."

"What about the other prisoners?" asked Abel.

"They're being kept in the cellar," said Gordin as he took off his Gra surcoat and picked up the dead archer's bow and quiver.

Jagen then gave his next orders, "Abel, Cain, go and free them, but don't waste any time. We might need everyone we can to fight our way out of here." He then turned to Frey, "Go onto the roof and find out what you can about what's up ahead. Just try not to be seen if you can avoid it."

Cain and Abel wasted no time as they moved the weight off the trapdoor before opening it. As they did so, they could briefly could hear the sound of chatter from the prisoners, who were all wondering what Gordin had been taken away for, unaware of what had happened since. They became silent once Cain climbed down into the room, unsure of which side this knights was on, although this was soon answered.

"Everyone, get out of here and pick up any weapon you can find. Do as you're told if you want to get out alive," shouted Cain. The prisoners wasted no time doing as he told as they were simply glad to be free, at least in comparison to how they were previously, as they were able to move around for the first time in what felt like an eternity as well as breath some slightly less stale air. The first freed prisoner up the ladder was quick to grab Gordin's discarded spear but he soon joined the others in their utter confusion over what was going on. They now saw that Gordin had somehow survived, and that he was joined by a few others, whoever they were. As they murmured amongst themselves, one of them asked Gordin, "What actually happened?"

Gordin answered, "It's a long story and I don't know much myself. All I know is that we're now under the command of the prince."

As others heard this, most of them were completely stunned at this revelation. "So much for secrecy," muttered Cain to himself.

Meanwhile, Frey had been watching the enemy from the top of the fort and he found that there were fewer of them than he expected. Most of them were scattered rank and file infantry along with a few archers, most of whom seemed to be milling around aimlessly, with the exception of a mounted knight, who was presumably the commander of this garrison. As he didn't want to stay any longer than he needed to, he quickly turned back but before returning inside the fort, he decided to look back the way they had come, partly to check for any enemies following them, but also because if their plan was successful, this could possibly be one of the last sights of his homeland. In any case, he did not have time to take in the view as the first thing he noticed was what looked like banners in the distance and while none of them were very clear, there was only one possibilty of what it could be: the main army of Gra was nearby. Worse still, was a much closer danger: a smaller, force had been despatched from the king's army and was now heading along the road towards the fort. Being much closer, Frey could see them more clearly and it was obvious that they could have no chance of winning a fight against them. These knights, a mixed company who wore heraldry from both Gra and Grust, numbered around 60, and they were all well armoured, most of them in full plate armour which had only very recently become widespread. What stood out most of all however, was one of the banners they carried, which belonged to king Jiol himself. Seeing that it would not be very long before they reached the fort, Frey rushed down to warn the others of what could well be the end of their escape attempt.

"We have a problem," shouted Frey as he ran back down the stairs. As everyone turned towards him he continued, "a whole lot of knights from Gra and Grust are heading this way led by King Jiol himself, with a huge army not far behind."

Amidst the panicked confusion that erupted as he said this, Jagen and a few others looked outside and confirmed what Frey had just told them.

"This is impossible. What are they doing here of all places?" asked Malledus.

"Dammit," said Gordin as a sudden realisation dawned on him. "I've just remembered something I heard the Gra soldiers mention," he continued, turning towards Marth. "It's you they're after. The king of Gra knows that you're here."

Marth tried to look outside to catch a glimpse of Jiol, his anger growing once again. While he couldn't see him from this distance from ground height, he could just barely see the king's banner in the mass of knights, indicating his presence, almost mocking Marth. As much as he wanted a chance to get revenge, he knew this was a fight they could not possibly win. As everyone argued over what to do next, some even suggesting surrender before being rebuked by their comrades, who wanted to press onward, or fight the enemy head on, or simply flee, Malledus turned to Frey and asked "What is the enemy's strength between here and the harbour?"

Frey answered, "There are fewer than I expected. There are a few crossbowmen, but it's mostly what looks like levy infantry; somewhere between twenty and thirty. We do have a chance against them, but it will take too long."

Malledus thought for a moment before he spoke, "We do have one choice. If we leave behind a decoy, they could buy the rest of us time to fight through and escape." There was a brief uncomfortable silence after he said this, as Marth could hardly believe what he had just heard. After all he had lost, did someone else now have to die so he could escape? The knights meanwhile, were all despite hesitating, thinking of volunteering to sacrifice themselves as was their duty.

"It's you they're after," Malledus said to Marth. "If someone could get out there before the enemy are too close, they could fool them into thinking you're trying to escape and draw them away to buy the rest of us some time."

As they knew now what needed to be done, Abel, Frey and Cain all stepped forward at once to volunteer. It was only then that everyone realised that while Malledus was talking, Frey had already handed his spear and shield to an unarmed soldier and was now removing his gauntlets.

"Surely there must be another way. I will not leave anyone else behind to die in my place." protested Marth, although deep down he knew it was futile.

Malledus answered calmly, "We don't have an option. If you don't allow one more sacrifice, the I'm afraid everyone else who sacrificed themselves will have done so in vain. We're so close. Don't let that happen."

"I'll do it," said Cain, without any hesitation is his voice. "After my comrades died for this kingdom, I will gladly do the same."

Abel objected, "Remember what you said earlier. You will not honour their sacrifice by needlessly throwing your life away." He then noticed that Frey had now discarded his helmet and was removing his coat of plates.

"Frey what are you doing?" he asked.

Down to his non-distinctive mail shirt, Frey pulled his cloak back on and answered, "This way I can run faster and look less suspicious." It seemed Frey had taken the initiative and actually prepared to sacrifice himself rather than simply arguing.

"Since we cannot waste any more time, it seems that is settled," said Malledus.

"Are you sure this will work?" asked Jagen. "Surely this won't distract all of them."

Malledus answered, "Maybe not, but the more of them that are drawn away, the better chance we have of surviving."

Neither Marth, Cain or Abel could think of anything to say now and before they had a chance, Frey spoke to Marth, "I will not let you down sir." Then, he ran out to where the enemy could see him. What happened next, none of them knew as a shout came from the other side of the room, "The enemy are coming".

With no time to spare, Jagen handed his spear to the nearest person, while Cain and Abel did the same, before all three drew their swords.

"Anyone who is armed get to the front," shouted Jagen. "Get up on the roof and shoot them," he then ordered Gordin. Everyone rushed to do as he said, preparing for what was now the most critical part of Marth's journey. All they could do now was fight, and hope that Frey would draw the enemy away before they were surrounded.

* * *

In the midst of advance force, king Jiol sat on his horse and waited as they slowly advanced and closed in for the capture of the Altean prince. His day had been made when a pegasus knight sent by the local commander had reported the news that the prince had been spotted in the area and was about to be trapped. Straight away, he had taken a company of his best knights forward for the capture, as well as sending the pegasus knight back with orders for the commander to close in from the other side. They were ordered to capture the prince alive or dead, both of which had their advantages. As long as he lived, Marth was a threat to Jiol's ambitions and the sooner he was dead, the better. However, a public execution would be a good show of strength and would make breaking Altea's spirit much easier, not that there was much that needed to be done given how well the plot had played out. The king was now dead and his army was shattered; the pacification of Altea was well under way and the armies of Grust and Doluna would by now be in complete control of the capital. Now, Jiol even had in his possession the Falchion, taken from the dead hands of King Cornelius, and in Jiol's point of view, this treasure was now finally back where it belonged in the house of Gra. However, it seemed that it would be for nothing if the Altean prince got away, and he had been furious when he heard the prince had escaped capture. Now he finally had the chance to wipe out the house of Altea and then, perhaps he would be given his rightful position as ruler of both kingdoms.

There had of course been those who opposed him, just as his daughter had done before she was banished. After he had crossed into Altea, he had learned that some meddling bishops in Gra had condemned his actions and were openly preaching against him. As troublesome as they were, they were not the only ones he had to worry about as he knew that some of his soldiers questioned the sense in the orders they had been given. He had made sure the Altean garrison mostly consisted of scum, who could now for once cause trouble somewhere else. Other soldiers might have questioned the whole plot but they would probably go along with anything as long as they were paid. The biggest thorn in his side however, was not his own subjects, but his so-called ally Gharnef, who from the beginning had interfered in everything he did. Of course, he knew that it would be idiotic to stand against Gharnef, who not only wielded infernal powers no one dared speak of, but also enjoyed the favour of Medeus himself. The situation was far from ideal, but one the prince was captured it would all be worthwhile, and all he had to do now was wait as his best knights marched towards where Marth was hiding.

"Look ahead sire," said Sternlin, the commander of the Grustian knights, "Someone's running off from the fort."

Jiol looked ahead straight away to confirm what he had been told, and saw a cloaked figure running to the East. Unsure of what to do now and expecting new orders, the knights had noticeably quickened their pace.

"If that is the prince then we must follow," he said to Sternlin and was about to issue orders to his men before he was interrupted.

"Sire are you sure that is really the prince. He could still be in the fort," said Sternlin.

"Then he is not going anywhere," said Jiol before shouting out his orders, "Follow me and don't stop until the prince is captured or dead."

Before the Sternlin could translate this for his own knights, Jiol had already started charging to the front of the formation. On this narrow road, no horse could get around the infantry and so, he simply charged through the midst of the ranks, forcing many to dive to the side only to knock more down and destroy the formation. Before they could recover, the king's handful of mounted bodyguards followed the king, getting in the way of the infantry. Sternlin could not believe the king's recklessness which endangered himself and all his subjects and allies, as king Jiol raced ahead with his bodyguards trying to catch up. The infantry picked themselves up and trailed along behind although the gap was constantly widening. Meanwhile Frey occasionally glanced back and realised that the plan had somehow worked better than anyone could have imagined as not only were the enemy reinforcements all chasing him, but they were in complete chaos. He knew this would not last however, and as the king was mounted, he would surely catch up, but Frey would do whatever it took to buy more time.

* * *

As the knights and everyone who was armed, gathered at the northern, gate, the soldiers of Gra began to cross the short bridge to attack, unsure of what to expect on the other side. Amongst them, were the three who had tried to have Gordin killed, who were most surprised when Gordin appeared on top of the fort and shot one of his few arrows at the advancing formation, causing one of them to drop dead while choking on his own blood, as he was hit in the neck. Before the slight gap in the formation could be plugged, the others rushed forward, trying to reach cover before they could be hit. As they closed in, the Alteans set up a defense at the gate, with Jagen, Abel and Cain in front with their swords drawn and shields facing the enemy, while others with spears covered them from behind. Gordin fired another shot, which only hit an enemy soldier's shield, after which he was forced to take cover as Gra soldiers fired at him from beyond the bridge with crossbows.

When the two forces clashed on the bridge, what resulted was a standoff where both sides attempted to lure the other into their spears. The Gra soldiers carried shields with their spears, which made it easier to defend themselves but at the same time, holding their relatively short spears in one hand limited their range. The Altean knights and the soldiers behind them defended each other, with the long reach of the soldier's spears keeping the enemy at a distance and the knights' shields blocking any attacks. It did not take long for the distance to gradually close and spears were thrust in both directions, while the knights attacked to draw away enemy shields and create openings for the spears behind them. As the battle wore on, it became clear that the Alteans had the upper hand, although they still experienced some casualties, including one case where a suicidal Gra soldier took out two of the Altean spears with his sword in an attempt to create a gap through which to close in on the enemy. His allies failed to exploit this however and he was quickly cut down by Abel and the spears were quickly taken up again.

After a while the Gra soldiers started to retreat in order to reform at the end of the bridge at the orders of their commander Ralf, who sat on his horse behind another line of soldiers, shouting out orders impatiently. While the Alteans pursued them to prevent this and those who were unarmed picked up weapons from the dead, they became more exposed to the enemy crossbows, which took out a few of them. Above the fort, Gordin prepared another shot aimed at the commander, only to realise a new danger had arrived. Two pegasus riders swooped down onto the advancing Alteans forcing some of them to dive, while others were swept aside including one who fell into the river. Gordin, wasting no time, changed his target and fired at one of them as they ascended to make another sweep. The arrow hit the pegasus directly in the eye, killing it and throwing off the rider who if she survived the fall, would not be alive for much longer. As the Alteans below pressed onwards, those in the rear raising their spears to counter any attack from the other pegasus rider, Gordin prepared his last arrow. When he fired however, he missed, the rider being skilled enough to get out of it's path even in the relatively short distance.

Neither side expected what happened next, as the Gra garrison were charged from behind, by an Altean milita armed with mostly crude and mismatched weapons and armour, with the exception of one huge knight in full plate armour who led them. It seemed Draug had seen the battle and was now leading his force to ensure the prince made it safely to his destination. Gordin was especially relieved as the pegasus rider who had just knocked him over and was now about to kill him, now turned away to deal with this new threat. In his armour, Draug pushed through to midst of the enemy, being relatively safe, while cutting down as many as was possible, although he ignored the pegasus, instead putting his faith in those who fought for him. Behind the main force, Norne, a peasant girl wielding a crossbow, finished drawing her weapon with a lever and aimed at the pegasus. She had spent a lot of time using the crossbow to hunt birds in the past and as a result, a pegasus was an easy target in comparison. Almost as soon as she fired, the pegasus crashed down on top of Ralf, knocking him off his horse and before he could get up, his helmet was pulled off and his head was bludgeoned by a passing man wielding a crude mace which splattered his blood and brains in all directions. Without their commander, the Gra garrison fell into complete disarray and what followed was a chaotic brawl. It was in the midst of this, that Marth charged out, no longer caring about blood and bodies all around him, doing his part to get rid of the traitorous scum who had caused so much suffering for him and his kingdom. Similar sentiments were held amongst all the Alteans, who now knew they would have to follow their prince into exile as their country burned.

As the battle died down and the last of the enemy was killed, many did not know what to think of what had just happened. Bloodshed on this scale was not something many of them had seen before, but most felt no remorse after all that had happened throughout the kingdom. It was not long before the silence died down as many scrambled to help the wounded and to question what would happen now. Draug raised his visor as he saw Malledus approach from the fort, and asked, "Where is the royal family?"

"It's just the prince I'm afraid," said Malledus as he pointed towards Marth, who was just heading up to join them. It took a minute for Draug to realise what this meant but he understood straight away why he didn't recognise the prince. In his helmet, which was presumably looted, he could have been one of his milita, a few of whom were as young as Marth.

"Your royal highness," said Draug. "We must make haste. The ships are loaded and ready to cast off."

"Thank you. I know we are running out of time but what about Frey?" asked Marth. "What happened to him?"

"We can't waste any time to find out," said Malledus. "If he survived, he knows where to find us."

Marth did not look like he was reassured by this answer but said only, "Very well. Let's go."

"Everyone move out," shouted Draug, and everyone did as they were told without question, almost running towards the nearby ships, wary of the danger that Frey had only delayed.

* * *

As much as Frey wished he could have lived to fight for Marth, he thought that if he was going to die here then it would be a death worthy of a knight of Altea. Not only had he succeeded in buying Marth the time he needed to escape, but he had utterly humiliated King Jiol and his men in their moment of triumph. He was now surrounded by the king's mounted bodyguards with his sword drawn, ready to fight to his last breath.

Earlier as he was charged by the king, he had somehow managed to knock the king off his horse, steal the horse and ride off before the bodyguards could catch up to him. In this way, he had managed to draw the chase out for longer than he thought could be possible. It did not last however, as one of the bodyguards eventually caught up to him and cut down the horse, which was probably worth more than all of them, knocking Frey to the ground. Although their faces were obscured by their visors, Frey could tell that they were confused at who they were really after the whole time, but they simply waited until the king caught up with them.

It was not long before King Jiol appeared riding a horse borrowed from Sternlin, followed by the rest of his soldiers. Unsurpsisingly, he was enraged at what had just happened and now that he saw that all this time he was following a decoy, he was speechless. He could hear some of the Grustians quietly speaking to each other in their own language, and while he did not understand them, it was obvious that they were mocking him.

"What are you waiting for?" asked Frey. "I've done my duty. Can't you finish yours?"

"Silence," shouted Jiol, "If you think you've saved your prince, he's not going anywhere." Frey however had faith that they could have broken through the Gra garrison in this time.

"Make this false prince suffer and the rest of you follow me. Give no quarter to anyone who remains," ordered Jiol.

As he turned to leave, Frey made one last futile attempt to fight for his life, striking upwards with his sword almost knocking one of his enemies off his horse, but as soon as he did he was pulled back and thrown to the ground. Before he realised what had happened, he felt the pain of a lance piercing his left shoulder, through his haubergeon. His attempts to resist were fruitless as he was repeatedly beaten and stabbed, and punched in the face with a gauntlet. Now as he was bleeding out with a number of his bones broken, he could hardly even try to think of some sort of memorable dying words to taunt those who he had fooled, let alone say anything. It was not long before he briefly felt yet more pain from a blow to the head, and then finally gave in to his inevitable death.

* * *

For the last three days, the fishermen who would normally have been out in their own boats, loading and preparing the three twin-masted hulks for the departure of the royal family and everyone who came with them. Only the captains knew the destination and the others would not be told until they had cast off but they knew that wherever they were going, it would take a long time to get there. Today, when their passengers were expected to arrive, the ships were filled with enough food for a few weeks, including barrels of live eels and shellfish, salted fish, cages of live chickens, kegs of ale, sacks of fruit and even a cow. Ships of this type which were fit for a king, were far from what most of the crew were used to, although they were well trained and the captains were highly experienced.

If the crew knew very little, most members of the militia knew even less. Draug had told them when they were recruited that there might be a day when they would have to leave their homes and everything they had behind to serve the kingdom. Now he told them that the day had come, and all of them simply accepted their duty that they swore to uphold. More ignorant still, were the prisoners that Marth and his knights had released in the fort, who could only follow the crowd with no idea where they were going. In any case, the gloomy atmosphere that surrounded the evacuation did hide that for a few, this was a rare chance to escape their mundane lives and for many others, a sense of anticipation for whatever lay ahead went with their grief at the loss of everything they had ever known.

When everyone had boarded, the ships immediately cast off one by one, as the passengers simply looked on while their homeland slowly grew smaller on the horizon. While some suspected that they could see the enemy on the horizon, who had been left on the shore with no means to follow, it was soon confirmed by the smoke rising from the village.

"Those bastards," said Cain after he took off his helmet for the first time that day. "What do they hope to gain from burning yet another village? Why did we have to abandon our homeland when Frey probably gave his life for it?"

"There's nothing we could do except flee. Frey remained so we could do so," said Abel. "I know you feel like you abandoned your comrades but our king ordered you to live, and that is your duty.

Cain said nothing but Abel continued, "Besides, you said it yourself. You will not rest while Jiol still lives."

Cain smiled slightly, at the thought of avenging his fallen comrades, but quickly put in a serious face once again once he remembered what was happening.

"You're right there," he said. "We have a duty to avenge our king and to serve our prince."

"Do you think there's a chance Frey survived?" asked Abel although he suspected he already knew the answer.

"I doubt it. Did you see how many there were? It would take a miracle for him to get away. I hate to think what they might have done to him if he was caught," said Cain.

"Well I suppose all we can do now is wait and hope he joins us on Talys," said Abel before he wandered off below deck to disarm for the first time in three days. Cain on the other hand, continued staring at the horizon, and quietly prayed for Frey and the future of Altea.

Gordin meanwhile, only now realised how little he knew of what was going to happen now. Completely ignorant of where this ship was going and how long it would take to get there, he decided to ask anyone who might know.

"Excuse me, do you know where we're going?" he asked Norne, who happened to be standing beside him.

"Did you come here with the prince? I was hoping you would know, but it seems none of us have been told," said Norne.

"Well the enemy were keeping us prisoner until the prince and his knights arrived. After that the enemy attacked and there was no time to ask any questions," said Gordin.

"Well it seems that no one knows," said Norne. "All I know is that we could be on this hsip for a long time, judging by the amount of supplies I saw them loading."

"That's just great. I've just come out of prison and now I have to spend a long time in another one," said Gordin. "My name is Gordin by the way. I'm an archer," he continued although the bow he had slung over his shoulder made the second part rather obvious.

"I'm Norne. I've been a member of the militia for only six months but I've been training myself with my crossbow by hunting rabbits and birds for years."

"They must make good targets. I can only practice in the range at whatever castle I'm stationed at. I was hoping to get called up to fight under the king but after what has happened, I'm glad I was kept on garrison duty," said Gordin. After a short pause he asked, "What made you join the militia?"

Norne answered, "It was for my family's freedom. We were tied to the land owned by my lord Draug, but when he saw that I was a good shot, he offered my family's freedom in exchange for military service. He kept his promise and they fled the village two days ago but I don't know where they are now." The worried look on Gordin's face didn't escape her as she said this and she asked, "What about you? Have you left anyone behind?"

"I was just thinking about my younger brother," said Gordin. "He always wanted to become an archer like me but I thought the war would be over by the time he was old enough. Now I'm not so sure although I have no idea what will happen to him now that Altea has fallen."

Norne did not know what to say after this but before she could think of anything, she was interrupted by a voice from behind saying, "Storm's coming up. Get below deck."

As they both turned back to see Draug standing behind them, the rumble of thunder in the distance and the beginning of light rain confirmed what he had said.

"Sir, can you tell us now where we're going?" asked Norne.

"Well since we're now safe from the enemy, I might as well," said Draug. "We are following the prince to Talys, where we will regroup and start training to retake Altea. The captain says that as long as the weather clears up, it will take just over three weeks to get there. Now take shelter and the rest will be explained soon."

As much as Gordin and Norne wanted to find out more about this desperate sounding plan, they reconsidered as the rain grew heavier and the sea became more slightly rough.

"Thanks you sir," said Norne as they left to do as he said.

Draug meanwhile, continued where he was going towards the stern castle where Marth was. Passing a number of people who were heading below deck, a few of them stopping to throw up on the way he eventually, reached the prince and shouted, "Sir, it won't be safe up here for long. Get below deck."

Marth took hardly any notice of what was going on. Now that there was no enemy threat to keep his mind busy, all he could think about once again was all that he had lost and all those who suffered as he fled.

With his head in his hands and his face soaked with the rain and tears, Marth asked himself, "Why could I do nothing?". After a short pause he continued, "I am completely powerless to save my kingdom, and my own family. Now so many have suffered because of me. Elice and Frey are probably dead, and everyone here has been taken from their homes so they can fight a war that seems lost."

Draug then spoke, "I assure you, those who I brought with me are loyal and will serve you well. While we can't do anything now, remember that we will return one day to serve justice to those who betrayed us."

"You're right," said Marth. "I will do the duty that my father left me. Even if it seems hopeless, all our enemies must be punished for their crimes."

After saying this, to Draug's relief he finally turned to make his way below the deck as Draug followed.

When Marth joined the others in the main compartment, most paid no attention, as they were busy either praying for safety, trying to sleep or throwing up and contributing to the unbearable stench which any experienced sailor would know, would get worse as the journey continued. Jagen however, had been wondering where Marth was and was relieved when he saw that he had joined them.

"Sir, once the storm is over we should make sure everyone knows what is going on. I thought that if they are going to follow you, you should speak to them but I'm not sure if you are up to it right now," he said.

"Don't worry about me," said Marth, although he did not sound convincing and he knew it. "Today I can mourn for all that I have lost. When this storm is over, then I will try to rally them."

Jagen knew he could not begin to understand the pain that Marth was going through but now it seemed that he was at least willing to do the task his father had left him.

"Very well," said Jagen. "Get some rest now. Once everyone is ready, training will make this journey slightly more bearable for all of us.

Soon Marth found himself an unoccupied corner in the compartment where he lay down and tried to sleep. It wasn't easy with the storm outside, all the people in the compartment and the livestock in the next compartment. Yet after saying a prayer for a safe journey, he eventually drifted off knowing that when he woke up, he would have to become the leader his father wanted to be.

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**Once again, reviews are appreciated. I don't know how long the next chapter will take but I am very busy with uni work at the moment and it might be quite a long chapter. In the meantime, I've been thinking of writing notes to accompany this story on my profile, to explain things like characters' backgrounds and the medieval aspects of the setting.**


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